Shipping container for irregular shaped articles



Aug. 1, 1950 J. A. FARRELL 2,517,185

smrrmc CONTAINER FOR IRREGULAR sx-mrzn mucuas Filed July 9, 1948INVENTOR. James A. F ARRELL 147' TOR/VEKS Patented Aug. 1, 1950 SHIPPING CONTAINER FOR IRREGULAR SHAPED ARTICLES .lames A. Farrell, Detroit,Mich., assignor to Cadillac Products, Inc

ration of Michigan Detroit, Mich., a corpo- Application July 9, 1948,Serial No. 37,946

Claims. (Cl. 206- 46) This invention relates to. shipping containers andparticularly to. containers for shipping irregular and curved-shapedarticles.

Heretofore, considerable difliculty as well as expense has attended thepackaging and shipping of irregular, odd and curved articles. Such partsof automobiles such as bumper sections, trim molding and the like aregenerally arcuate in formation throughout their extent, and have beendifficult to protect againstdamage in a shipping container. Otherarticles such as rods and shafting having lateral projections havebeendiilicult to satisfactorily protect in a shipping container withoutconsiderable expense.

An important object of this invention is to provide an improvedcontainer for protecting articles in shipment and particularly forprotectinglyenclosing articles of irregular, odd or curved formation.Another important object of this invention is to provide an improvedshipping container for.

such types of articles which is economically formed out of two or moretubular bodies of similar construction and so shaped that they may bequickly assembled together to completely protectingly house the article.i

A further important object of the invention is to provide an improvedshipping container for irregular or curved articles which is formed oftwo or more cylindrical tubes of fiber board composition broughttogether in side-by-side relationship and apertured in a novel manner toform a communicating passage between the tubes through which aprojecting part of the article in one tube extends into the other tubefor enclosure therewithin.

In carrying out the invention, two tubes of fiber board material whichmay be cut from a longer tube and therefore of the same diameter areem-' ployed. One tube is usually longer inle ngth than the other. andencloses the major portion of the article to be shipped. The othershorter tube is mounted alongside of the longer tube and protectinglyreceives the projecting part thereof. The two tubes are initially formedwith novel cooperating cut-outs or slots in the side wallsthereof whichtogether provide a communicating passage between the hollow interiors ofthe tubes.

throughwhich the projectingpart. of thearticle extends. An'importantfeature of the invention is the manner of assemblin thetwo tubes together so that the article is 'efiectively held from movement in thecontainer.

Various other objects, advantages and meritorious features will becomemore fully apparent from the following specification, appended claimsand accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a container constructed and assembledtogether in accordance with this invention and showing in dotted outlinea curved article enclosed therewithin,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the two parts of the container of Fig. 1showing the same prior to assembly,

Fig. 3 is a side view of the slotted end section of the longer tube ofthe container asssembly,

Fig. 4 is a side view of the slotted end section of the shorter tube ofthe container assembly, and

. Fig. 5 is an end view of the container assembly taken along line 5-5of Fig. l.

The shipping container of the present invention is preferably formed ofcylindrical tubes of fiber board but may be formed of tubes or cartonsof rectangular cross section. Such cylindrical tubes are commerciallyavailable in various diameters and the side walls thereof are formed bya spiralling strip of fiber board. For protection of easily damagedarticles or parts it is desired to use fiber board tubes of thischaracter which are relatively thick and rigid. The articles for whichthis ship ping container is adapted is of irregular or curved formation.Typical examples are the arcuate trim moldings used on motor vehicles,curved bumper sections, and the like.

For curved objects such as trim moldings and bumper sections, the tubesemployed in the container assembly are less in diameter than the maximumperpendicular distance between the chord line connecting the ends of thearticle and the intermediate portion thereof. To enclose such articleswithin tubular bodies of this character,

the major portion of the length of the article is, enclosed in one tubeand the balance within the other tube.

Referring to the drawings, one tube Ill is relaelongated longitudinallyextending slot l4 closed at one end It and extending to and opening outthrough the adjacent end of the tube. A wall portionof the shorter tubeI2 is similarly formed.

One end section thereof is providedas shown in" Fig. 4 with an elongatedslot l 8 closed at its inner end 20 and having its opposite end openingout through the adjacent end of the tube. Slot [8 is preferably shorterin length than slot M as shown by a comparison of Figs. 3 and 4.

A curved molding strip 22 is illustrated in Figs.

1 and 2 as a typical article for which the container is adapted. Inassembling the two tubes to enclose a curved or arcuate article such asshown at 22, the latter is slid into the longer tube I0 through eitherend and arranged therein so that one end of the article projects throughthe slot l4 close to the closed end 16 thereof. In selecting the tubesfor containing such an article, the longer tube is provided with a,length approxi mately equal to the length of the article and the shortertube with a length slightly greater than the projecting end portion ofthe article. The shorter tube [2 is brought up adjacent to the slottedend section of the longer tube It! and turned so that its slot it! opensin the opposite or reverse direction to that of the slot l4 and with thetwo slots facing one another. The shorter tube is then slid endwiseparallel to the first and in such a manner that the projecting end ofthe article 22 enters the slot [8. The shorter tube is advanced endwisein this manner until the closed end 20 of its slot abuts the article andwedges it against the closed end of the other slot in the mannerillustrated in dotted outline in Fig. 1. The lengths of the two tubesselected are such that when thus assembled the opposite ends of thearticle are within the tubes and bearing against the inner wall surfacesthereof. In this manner the curved article is held against movement inthe tube assembly.

The protecting container assembly is completed by securing the two tubestogether. This is preferably accomplished by wrapping adhesively coatedstrips E l-24 thereon or using any other suitable means such as flexiblewires or cord. In final form, there is provided a container formed oftwo similar constructed tubular sections tightly secured together into9, unitary protecting enclosure for an arcuate article. Either tubealone is less in diameter than the rise of curved article measured fromthe chord line connecting the ends of the article but the two togetherserve to protectingly enclose the entire length of the article. Forarticles having more than one lateral projection, two or more shortertubes may be employed alongside of the primary tube to receive andenclose the projections.

What I claim is:

1. A shipping container formed of two tubular bodies having the samecross-sectional dimensions but difiering in length from one another,each body having a wall portion thereof cutaway to form a longitudinalslot closed at one end and having the opposite end opening out throughan end of the body, and means securing said bodies together inside-by-side abutting relation with the shorter body adjacent to one endof the longerv body and with the closed end portions of the slots inregistering overlapping relation through which a part of the articleshipped in the container may extend.

2. A shipping container formed of two cylindrical tubes of fiber boardcomposition assembled and. secured together in side-by-side abuttingrelationship, each tube provided on the abutting face thereof with anelongated longitudinal slot closed at one end and extending to andopening out through one end of the tube, and the tubes being soassembled that the closed end portions of the slots overlap upon oneanother forming a communicating passage between the interiors o thetubes through which a lateral projecting part of an article contained inone tube may project into the other tube.

3. A shipping container formed of two cylindrical tubes of fiber boardcomposition having the same cross sectional dimension but difierin inlength from one another, each tube having the wall portion of one endsection thereof cutaway to form an elongated longitudinal extending slotclosed at one end but extending to and opening out through the adjacentend of the tube, the longer of said two tubes adapted to contain anarticle for shipment having a lateral projecting part projecting throughthe slot thereof, and means securing the shorter tube alongside of theslotted end section of the longer tube but with the slotted end sectionsof the two tubes reversed as to one another and so disposing the slotsthat the closed end portions thereof overlap to form a communicatingpassage between the interiors of the tubes through which the projectingpart of the article extends.

4. A shipping container for arcuate-shaped-articles comprising, incombination, a relatively long cylindrical tube of fiber boardcomposition, a second shorter cylindrical tube of fiberboard compositionhaving the same diameter as the first tube, each tube having the wallportion of one end section thereof cut-away to form an elongatedlongitudinal slot opening out through the adjacent end of the tube andhaving the op posite end closed, the shorter tube lyin alongside of theslotted end section of the longer tube and secured thereto so that theslots thereof open out opposite to one another but face one another withthe closed end portions thereof overlapping to form a passage betweenthe interiors of the tubes through which one end of the articlecontained within the longer tube may project for enclosure within theshorter tube.

5. A shipping container for irregular shaped articles formed of a pairof tubular members each having the wall portion of one end sectionthereof cut away to 'form an elongated longitudinally extending slotclosed at one end opening out through the adjacent end of the tubularbody, means securing said tubular bodies together in side-bysideabutting engagement with the slotted end sections of the two tubularbodies reversed as to one another and with the slots registering withone another to form a communicating passage between the interiors of thebodies through which a part of the article shipped in the container mayextend.

JAMES A. FARRELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,441,264 Bruewer Jan. 9, 19231,983,322. Stewart Dec. 4, 1934 2,019,778 Enholm et al. Nov. 5, 1935

